LAST week the Diary brought news of a company in Hungary which will arrange cheap but expert dental treatment, and throw in flights, hotels and entertainment.

Today, Mike Key, of Wigginton, unlocks more information on the subject.

"York people travelling to Hungary for dental treatment may not be as new as you think," he says.

"Two years ago, I realised I had run out of teeth, due mainly to the 'if in doubt, yank it out' mindset prevalent among RAF dentists during my spell of national service.

"I tried normal dentures, but was quite unable to adjust to them and it soon became apparent that the only solution would be the fitting of dental implants. These are similar to small, metal, rawplugs inserted surgically into the jaw and serve to anchor the new bridges. Local enquires produced a staggering estimate of £38,000 for the upper jaw alone.

"I resorted to the Internet and eventually located a dentist in Hungary who agreed to undertake the work at a relatively sensible price."

Mike was met at the airport by a representative of the clinic. He initially spent five days in Hungary and received VIP treatment.

"The clinic was packed with all the latest equipment and seemed more like the bridge of the Starship Enterprise than the usual dentist's surgery. The five-hour operation to place all the implants was done on the second day.

"The whole time we were there we received visits in the hotel from the representative who acted as our interpreter where necessary and made sure that we wanted for nothing. I am probably in better shape, dentally, than I was at 16."

Best of all, Mike says the cost, including flights and hotels, was around one-sixth the price he would have paid at home.

STAND by your beds, then get under them - the RAF is coming.

Paul Tutill, who lives at Thornton-Le-Clay, says he appreciates fighter pilots need the best training available. But he wonders if there is any need to fly Tornadoes as low as the one that skimmed his roof one recent evening while he was gardening.

"I certainly didn't have to go looking for manure that day," he says.

In reference to the pilot's flight course, Paul - self-proclaimed Flight Private Paul Tutill of the Thornton-Le-Clay Home Guard - says he saw the whites of the flyer's eyes and the gold filling in his front teeth.

"He smiled as he bore down on me, parting my hair as he flashed past me at 633 mph."

He admits to a degree of exaggeration and says he wouldn't want to get into a war of words with the air ministry, even though the aircraft do offer a far closer view of their undercarriage than he would like to see.

"I would be all in favour of a bit of gentle banter with the RAF but if it's all out war, my catapult doesn't match their firepower," he says.

Updated: 10:00 Wednesday, May 03, 2006